Category: DIY Art School

More Visual Notes

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In the fall, I took visual notes alongside my regular notes while watching General Conference.  It was fun to try something new, and I liked looking back on them later in the year.  It made it easier to find a specific talk if I could only remember part of the talk and couldn’t remember the speaker.

And so, I took regular and visual notes again while watching conference this spring.

Some sessions went better than others. I’m sure I left things out. Once again, it was fun, and I think it helped me pay better attention to the talks. I will share my notes with you here. I would welcome any suggestions!

Here is a link to the full talks, so you can see what I missed or didn’t quote exactly right: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/general-conference?lang=eng

If you took creative notes of General Conference or something else, I’d love to see them! Please post a link in the comments if you have them posted somewhere, or send it through the tab labeled “contact” at the top of the page.

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To see the details, use the full screen icon [⤧] at the bottom right of the images.

Sharing Space

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With everyone home during the day, I find myself sharing spaces at home that used to just be mine—like my art desk.

Here are some ways we’re making this work.

① Communication: Share what is working for you and what isn’t. Decide on guidelines together for using the space. How to people schedule time? What can be left in the space? If something is left in the space, can other people use it?

② Patience: If something goes wrong, wait until everyone is calm to discuss it. If it is not your turn for the space, wait until it is. Ask, don’t accuse. Suggest, don’t order. Discuss, don’t dictate.

③ Sharing is Caring: Remember that it is the relationship with the people that you are sharing space with that matters. Compliment their work. Respect their efforts. Be understanding when things don’t go well.

😊🍀Good luck!🍀😊

If you are learning to share space right now, what is working well for you? What isn’t working?

Routines II

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Getting a routine to stick takes at least two weeks.

Is it worth the bother?

I think so. Knowing what’s coming next brings a feeling of safety in uncertain times.

Routines don’t have to be strict schedules. Those are really hard to stick to. It’s easier when they’re adaptable. In my experience, routines need:

❶ to have purpose. Decide what you really need or want to do each day/week/month.

❷ to have order. Fit your planned activities around the set points of your schedule (meals, regular appointments, etc.) in an order that makes sense. I like to vary my activity level—active chores before/after a lot of sitting down, for example.

❸ to have breathing room. Don’t cram your schedule too full. Life happens. You don’t have to do everything every day.

❹ to change when they aren’t working. Get input from those around you. Think about what things you aren’t enjoying—or keep skipping. Check in regularly.

⟹ Do you have a routine? How do you make it work for you?

Managing Fear

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Feeling afraid, stressed, overwhelmed, or anxious can really make it difficult to be creative.

What can you do❓

① Be patient with yourself. Calling yourself names or setting unrealistic deadlines will only add to your stress level. Be kind.

② Talk it out. This can be done multiple ways. Talk to a friend or family member — or multiple people. Also write it out in a notebook. In Julia Cameron’s book “The Artist’s Way,” she recommends writing (by hand) 3 pages daily to unload whatever your brain is occupied with.

③ Take a break. Do something that doesn’t engage your brain — let it relax as you walk, do dishes, bake cookies…something repetitive and calming.

④ Accept less than your best. During difficult times, it can be a victory to show up and get something done. Sometimes that’s just how it is, and it’s enough.

⑤ Save you favorite mental escape — movies, social media, books, chocolate — as a reward for getting work done. (The first step of a large project, another item checked off your list, a half hour of solid work, etc.

How do you manage your fear? What helps when you feel anxious or overwhelmed? How do you continue to create?

Just Keep Going

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Life is made up of opposites. There is day and night, happiness and sorrow, too busy and too bored. And of course, there are good days and bad days.

Somehow, life is predictable and full of surprises. Strange, right?

Sometimes there are bad weeks and bad months and bad years. Sometimes you only know which weeks and months and years were the good ones when you look back on them from the middle of hard times–the contrast makes it seem obvious.

It is important to know that life goes up and down like a roller coaster, because in the middle of a bad year, it feels like things will never be okay again.

Things will be okay again. The tide goes in, the tide goes out. The earth turns. The seasons change. Nothing stays the same. Life gets hard, then it gets better again.

On a bad art day, a bad life day, a bad hair day, know that it will get better—and JUST KEEP GOING.

Routines

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Small actions, when they’re done consistently, can really add up.

A group of these small actions makes up a routine. Routines are amazing. Why?

 ① You are improving whatever actions you choose to do consistently. For example: a sketch each day.

② An existing routine makes adding potential new habits much, much easier. You can simply fit it in with something you already do, and you instantly have a plan for accomplishing it and a built-in reminder. (That doesn’t mean it will be easy—just easier.)

𝓠 : ➔ But what if you have no routines to start from?

𝒜 : Do you eat lunch every day? Wake up? Watch a favorite TV show? These are mini-routines and can be built on to create longer routines.

🟩🟥🟦🟩 Routines are POWERFUL ways to reach your goals a little at a time. Small things are easiest to add and continue to do.🟥🟦🟩🟥

🌟How have routines helped you reach your goals?